The council said it had worked with Smart City Consultancy to assess the technical, operational, and regulatory requirements of incorporating autonomous shuttle services into a potential future network of mobility hubs across the county.
It is also working with Ohmio UK to deliver the £325,000 feasibility study to explore how autonomous shuttle buses could be used.
The ADASTRA prototype, built in New Zealand, is designed to be a fully autonomous vehicle, with no steering wheel or driver’s seat.
It can carry up to 14 passengers at speeds of up to 40mph (64km/h), however, during the trial it has been limited to eight seated passengers with a safety operator, travelling at up to 15mph (24km/h).